Swimming pool construction

ABSTRACT

The specification describes a swimming pool construction in which the earth retaining walls that form the pool sidewalls are specially constructed so that the earth adjacent to the sidewall remains substantially undisturbed. The construction uses aluminum panels having integral tubular sleeves extending vertically and spaced apart along the length of the panel. The boss of each panel is anchored into the earth supporting the wall by pins inserted through the sleeves from above and driven into the earth. This eliminates the need for &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;overexcavating&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; the pool site. The top of the panels are anchored into the ground with laterally extending braces.

United States Patent i191 Shanni et al.

[ May 28, 1974 SWIMMING POOL CONSTRUCTION [73] Assignee: Champion, Inc.,Scotch Plains, NJ.

[22] Filed: June 8, 1972 [2]] Appl. No.: 261,077

5 1970 Greene 52/169 x 7/1972 Boassy et al. 52/169 Primary ExaminerPriceC. Faw, Jr.

[57] ABSTRACT The specification describes a swimming pool constructionin which the earth retaining walls that form the pool sidewalls arespeciallyv constructed so that the earth adjacent to the sidewallremains substantially undisturbed. The construction uses aluminum panelshaving integral tubular sleeves extending vertically and spaced apartalong the length of the panel. The boss of each panel is anchored intothe earth supporting the wall by pins inserted through the sleeves fromabove and driven into the earth. This eliminates the need foroverexcavating the pool site. The top of the panels are anchored intothe ground with laterally extending braces.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDIAY 28 I974 SlEEI30f4 FIG. 3

Ill 1| U H H I J I I I I I l H H I I I H I U WWK WAw w SWIMMING POOLCONSTRUCTION This invention relates to swimming pool construction.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION A persistent problem in the construction ofinground swimming pools continues to be the instability of the eartharound the periphery of the excavation. The building sequence typicallyinvolves overexcavating for the pool itself, then backfilling around thecompleted pool. Shifting and settling of the earth fill often disturbsthe pool structure. Vinyl liner pools of the kind having an earth bottomcan actually be flooded from surface water diverted as the result ofoverexcavation of the pool site. In such cases the vinyl liner may beshifted and the carefully leveled bottom may be disturbed.

In conventional practice the necessity for forming an excavationsignificantly larger than the pool itself is to accommodate the supportstructure for the sidewall. This typically comprises an A frame, orsimilar bracing device, which projects laterally from the region of thelower edge of the sidewall and then connects to a diagonal memberaffixed to the upper portion of the sidewall. Various other arrangementshave been employed for supporting the sidewalls of the pool but thesealso typically involve bracing members extending laterally from thelower portion of the sidewall. It is this approach to sidewall supportin the construction of most vinyl liner pools that makes it necessary tooverexcavate the pool site. It is significant to note that this type ofconstruction is almost always used for making aluminum or steel wallplastic liner pools.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION One aspect of this invention is toprovide an improved wall structure for use in plastic liner poolconstruction.

A further aspect of the invention is to provide an improved sidewallstructure for use in conjunction with rigid plastic shells of the kinddescribed in United States Patent application Ser. No. 56,802, filedJuly 2 l, 1971, now US. Pat. No. 3,673,751 and assigned to the presentassignee.

According to one aspect of the invention an improved wall constructionthat overcomes the necessity for overexcavating involves the provisionof a sleeve member affixed to or made integral with the wall. Anelongated anchor rod is then inserted through the sleeve and then isdriven into the earth below the wall. This serves to anchor the lowerportion of the wall against lateral movement without having structuralmembers protruding laterally from the lower portion of the wall. Theupper portion of the wall is anchored with lateral support members whichcan be installed without substantially disturbing the earth. As aconsequence of this anchoring technique the required excavation needonly be wide enough to accommodate the width of the sidewall. By thusallowing for undisturbed earth contiguous to the wall many of thedisadvantages of the prior art wall structures are overcome.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The above and other aspects of theinvention will be more apparent from the following detailed description.In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view through a pool wall panel and the excavationin which it is installed illustrating one embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the wall section of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view similar to that of FIG. I showing a preferredembodiment of the invention in which the wall construction of theinvention is used in combination with a rigid plastic or fiberglassshell.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing in detail an exem plary fitting forinterlocking panels to form the rigid shell shown in FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view similar to that of FIG. 4 showing anotherinterlocking panel arrangement.

Referring to FIG. 1 the sectional view is taken through a wall of anin-ground pool showing the technique for bracing the wall againstlateral movement while retaining the earth'contiguous to the wall in anundisturbed condition. The pool walls are typically formed of flat steelor aluminum panels that may have reinforcing ribs or other knownstructural features on the outside of the wall, with the inside of thewall generally smooth to accommodate the conventional pool liner. Thebottom of the pool is typically earth or sand, smoothed to give anacceptably flat pool bottom. The panels are typically bolted together orinterlock to give the length and width desired.

In FIG. 1, the wall panel 10 is shown resting on undisturbed earth 11. Ahollow sleeve 12 extends vertically along the outside of the panel,firmly fixed thereto or integral therewith. In a preferred sense thesesleeves are steel or aluminum and may be welded to metal panels. It mayalso be possible to extrude the wall and sleeves in one piece. Aretaining pin, shown in phantom at 13, is inserted through the sleeveand driven into the earth 11. It will be appreciated that this pin,which anchors the wall against lateral movement of its lower end, can beinstalled from the surface surrounding the excavation, and that thevolume of undisturbed earth, 16, can extend contiguous to the wall. Thespace shown between the wall and the earth 16 represents the mostconvenient minimum tolerance with which the excavation can be made whilestill accommodating the width of the wall. The average dimension forthis spacing advantageously is less than half the vertical dimension ofthe wall panels.

The upper portion of the wall is anchored via brace 17, bolted at 18 toa rib section formed on the wall section 10 (see FIG. 2). The other endof brace 17 is anchored in concrete 19 with anchor rod 20.

Referring back to the wall member 10, it includes, in

this particular embodiment, a mounting bracket 21 to which the poolcoping 22 is attached. The coping 22 is shown here as including alongitudinally extending slot 23, into which a conventional vinyl poolliner 24 is inserted.

, A plan view of the wall member, taken through section 2-2, appears inFIG. 2. The elements are designated as in FIG. 1. A significant featurethat appears in this view is the sleeve 12 that is slotted throughoutits length. This feature is optional, but is useful for obtaining tightengagement between the anchor rod and the sleeve without the necessityfor very close dimensional tolerances.

The materials from which theforegoing elements of the wall assembly arefabricated will be largely a matter of choice. Steel is often used inswimming pool construction. Alternatively, the flat portion of the wall10 can be wood, e.g. cypress. However, the preferred material for thewall structure described is aluminum, selected for its light weight,strength, and corrosion resistance. The light weight characteristic isespecially im portant for this structure since this pool is designedlargely for convenience and ease of installation. The only majorequipment essential for its installation is that used in forming theexcavation. The simplicity of the fabrication of the pool is asignificant virtue in its design. In many cases unskilled workers andeven homeowners will be able to complete the major portion of theconstruction.

Referring again to FIG. l the lateral brace'l7 is shown as extendingbeneath the ground primarily for esthetic reasons. From FIG. 2 it isevident that a trench 25 must be provided as well as a hole for thesubsurface anchor 19. The anchor is shown as concrete although theterminus of the brace 17 could be staked or pinned to the earth. Sincethe trench for the brace 17 can be quite thin and the distance betweenbracescan be typically several feet, the earth 16 is not undulydisturbed even if the brace is anchored fairly deep into the ground.Mechanically, there is no apparent advantage in doing this although the,options in installing the braces for the upper portion of the wall areundoubtedly many. For example,the brace need not extend laterally. Ifthe normal terrain of the earth wall 16, where the brace would beanchored normally, is lower than the top of the wall then the brace maybe anchored in the earth well below the top of the wall. However it willbe evident that if the pool walls do not extend below the grade level atsome point, by a distance of at least one half of the vertical walldimension, then the value of preserving the earth wall 16 undisturbed isdiminished to the point where other wall structures may be equallyeffective. a Y

A preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 3. This poolconstruction is essentially an improvement of the poolstructure'described and claimed in United States Patent application Ser.No. 56,802, filed July 21, l97l and assigned to the present assignee.With reference to that application, and particularlyto FlG. 3 thereof, arigid pool shell is shown disposed within the plastic pool liner. Thisconstruction eliminates the need for a smooth earth floor, protects thepool liner from contact with pool users and from degrading ultravioletradiation, and provides several other advantages described in saidcopending application. The structure described in that applicationincludes an earth retaining wall, exterior with respect to the poolliner, to provide structural integrity for the pool excavation. Apreferred earth retaining wall structure is that of the presentinvention.

The structure of FIG. 1 of this application provides an idealsub-structure for the rigid shell of the aforementioned application andthe combination can effectively be implemented by simply extending thetop grid member 21 so as to provide a fitting for attaching the rigidinterior shell. Such a structure is shown in FlG. 3. The redundantelements of FIG. 1 are shown in primed numbers. The significantmodification is in the top grid member, indicated here at 31, which isaffixed to or integral with the wall panel 10. The grid member31 extendsbeyond the wall and liner, and terminates in a fitting 32 which engagesa rigid pool wall panel 34. The pool wall panel has a structure similarto that described in the aforementioned application which allows it tobe snapped into engagement with the fitting 32 in the suspending grid31. The grid member 31, or alternatively the wall panel 10', is providedwith a channel 33 in which -thebeaded liner 24" is inserted. Note thatthe pool coping 22' is identical to that used in the liner pool of FIG.1, even though the structure of the grid to which it is affixed is quitedifferent. This universal coping section can be installed-by simplysnapping it into engagement with the top grid of the wall panel.

The interlocking arrangement for the panels of the rigid shell is shownin FIGS. 4 and 5. This particular arrangement of the rigid panels andthe interlocking fittings is given by way of example. The invention inits broader aspects encompasses any useful arrangementof rigid panelsthat form a pool interior shell within the liner-retaining wallcombination described previously.

The panel arrangement shown in FIG. 4 comprises a pool interior panel 41which is ordinarily square or rectangular in dimension and terminates atboth edges in a re-entrant channel 42, and a folded edge portion 43.This leaves an interior channel portion 44. The panel 41 and the counterpanel 45 are glued or otherwise affixed to the filler 46. The filler cancomprise a series of rib members spaced apart, or could be any of anumber of structural members ofa varietyof materials simply serving tosupport the panels in spaced relationship. Foamed plastics such aspolyurethane can beused in combination with rigid plastic, wood or metalsupports. i

The panel 45 terminates at each edge with a channel 47 and a folded edge48, the latter at least partly coextensive with the edge 45 of the otherpanel. The

, channel 47 serves to engage the female fittings as will be described.

This type of panel member is adapted to be used with joining members,one of which is shown at 50, joining two floor panels 60 and 61. It willbe recognized that this fitting functions the same as fitting 32 in thesuspending. grid member 31. The joining member 50 re sembles an l-barwithonechannel-forming member 51 somewhat longer than the otherchannel-forming member 52, although this features is not per seessential. The edge fitting of the panel is adapted to engage within thechannel 53, formed by arms 51 and 52, and main beam member 54. The arm51 terminates with lip 55, and this lip engages the notch 47 of the malefitting. Arm 52 terminates with lip 56,'which engages the reentrantchannel 42 of the panel. The I-bar 50 is preferably rigid. Goodresultsare obtained with aluminum extrusions.

It can be inferred from this figure that the combination of the malefittingof the panel and the l-bar joining membercomprise aninterlocking'assembly that can be joined simply by snapping the memberstogether, it being remembered that the edge portions of the panel aresufficiently resilient to allow the channels 42 and 47 to closetogether. The normal channel separation is such as to tightly engage thearms 51 and- 52. The biased surfaces 57 and 58 ease the joiningoperation with this particular design. The additional length of arm 51as compared with the length of arm 52 also contributes to this result.The panel is mosteffectively joined to a joining member by tilting thepanel with respect to the joining member while engaging'lip 56 andchannel 42. Then by urging the members into horizontal alignment, theinterlock is effected. The actual operation is accomplished withremarkably ease and the interlocking joint is very effective.

The sidewall to floor panel joining strips, shown schematically at 38 inFIG. 3, are angled if appropriate for forming the hopper of the pool.However, it will be apparent that the endwall to floor panels cannot bejoined in the same way as two such joints cannot be interlocked at rightangles to one another. An appropriate design for the endwall to sidewalljoint and joining strip is shown in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5 the sidewall panelis shown at 70 and the joining strip at 71. These members are interlocked as before. However, the joining strip 71 is designed so thatthe floor panel 72 will engage directly without tilting the panel. Thepanel rests on suppot arm 73 and is retained with the aid of the nub 74.It may also be advantageous to bolt this panel to the fitting 71 or toprovide a retaining pin, such as that shown at 75 engaging hole 76formed through one side of the panel.

By welding the sleeves 12 to the panel as de-' scribed, a heavy gagesheet can be used and the interior surface of the sheet can be smooth toaccommodate the pool liner. The alternative of folding the sheet to forma sleeve does not allow either of these expedients.

Various additional modifications and extensions of this invention willoccur to those skilled in the art. All such variations and deviationsthat basically rely on the teachings through which this invention hasadvanced the art are properly considered to be within the spirit andscope of this invention.

We claim: 1. A swimming pool construction comprising: an earthexcavation, a retaining wall for retaining at least a portion of theside wall of the excavation, and a water retaining liner affixed to theretaining wall and covering the major portion of the excava tion, theinvention characterized in that the retaining wall comprises a pluralityof aluminum wall panels disposed edge-to-edge and extending around atleast a portion of the periphery of the excavation, each wall panelcomprising a rigid sheet having a plurality of elongated, essentiallycylindrical, sleeves fixed to the surface of the rigid sheet facing theearth and extending vertically along the sheet, said sleeves beingslotted along their length to allow expansion of the interior sleevediameter and accommodate anchor pins, the anchor pins extending througheach sleeve into the earth below the lower edge of the panel to anchorthe lower portion of the panel against lateral displacement, and meansfor anchoring the upper portion of each panel against lateraldisplacement.

1. A swimming pool construction comprising: an earth excavation, aretaining wall for retaining at least a portion of the side wall of theexcavation, and a water retaining liner affixed to the retaining walland covering the major portion of the excavation, the inventioncharacterized in that the retaining wall comprises a plurality ofaluminum wall panels disposed edge-to-edge and extending around at leasta portion of the periphery of the excavation, each wall panel comprisinga rigid sheet having a plurality of elongated, essentially cylindrical,sleeves fixed to the surface of the rigid sheet facing the earth andextending vertically along the sheet, said sleeves being slotted alongtheir length to allow expansion of the interior sleeve diameter andaccommodate anchor pins, the anchor pins extending through each sleeveinto the earth below the lower edge of the panel to anchor the lowerportion of the panel against lateral displacement, and means foranchoring the upper portion of each panel against lateral displacement.